PINCKNEY – Brady Raymond waited his turn, excelling elsewhere on the football field the past two years for Pinckney, while first Luke Lovell, then Jimmy Bona started at quarterback.
It’s finally Raymond’s time to shine behind center as a senior, an opportunity he made the most of Thursday night.
Starting at quarterback for the first time since his freshman year, Raymond ran for three touchdowns and threw for another in Pinckney’s 28-13 season-opening win over Ann Arbor Skyline.
“I played quarterback until last year when I had to play outside linebacker,” Raymond said. “Playing quarterback is where I’m at. It was fun.”
Raymond rushed 15 times for 117 yards, scoring on runs of 16, 24 and 18 yards while showing a combination of power and elusiveness. He was 7-for-10 for 85 yards and a touchdown.
“I think he can get better, too, which is exciting,” Pinckney coach Jason Carpenter said. “Hopefully, that will only catapult our offense even more this season. Being a dual-threat quarterback, what are you going to take? Are you going to take the run or are you going to take the pass? Because he’s also pretty efficient with the pass “.
It was the first chance for fans to see Raymond play significant snaps as a college quarterback, but it was also the first glimpse of the Pirates’ latest dynamic passing combination.
Sophomore Nolan Carruthers was on the receiving end of all seven of Raymond’s completions, scoring on a 31-yard catch and run with 2:57 left in the first half to give the Pirates a 14-0 lead.
“It’s one of my best experiences I’ve ever had,” Carruthers said. “I love playing with my boys. They treat me, like a younger kid, like I’ve been here all my life.”
It was the first time Raymond and Carruthers played a football game together outside of a 7-on-7 league this summer.
“It started in 7-on-7,” Raymond said of the connection between the two. “I told him, ‘Just get your confidence up’ because that’s the biggest thing for him, and he’s an athlete. Get him in space and we’ll be fine. Owen Sweeney, I was going to kill myself with that (pass of touchdown), but he saved me.”
Carruthers caught a touchdown pass from Raymond during Pinckney’s preseason game at Brighton, but also had a dropped pass. How he and his quarterback responded spoke volumes for Carpenter, who is in his first season as a head coach.
“After the scrimmage, they were out there for a half hour working on routes and they were on the same page,” Carpenter said. “That’s how you know you’ve got a team that wants to take it to the next level, because they’re not satisfied. If we can get all 32 guys playing unsatisfied football, we might have something special here.”
Pinckney took a 21-0 lead on a 24-yard run by Raymond on the first drive of the second half. The Pirates held that lead until a 14-yard run by Carson Mitchell with 10:24 left in the game ended their shutout bid.
Pinckney answered with a long Johnny Combs kick return to the Skyline 48-yard line. Six plays later, Raymond scored on an 18-yard run on fourth-and-three with 7:08 left.
Skyline got back into the end zone with 5:03 remaining on a 7-yard run by quarterback Evan Rothenberg.
“I think we were playing good team defense in that first half,” Carpenter said. “Actually, we played it for three quarters. I hate to wish for a negative, but if we’re going to be SEC White contenders, we can’t have a lapse in focus.”
Before the game, youth football players and cheerleaders formed a long tunnel for the Pirates to pass through as they entered the field. Afterwards, the student section stormed the field and knelt along with the players as Carpenter addressed his team.
“It was awesome,” said Carpenter, who was doused with water by his players after the game. “Having the youth here was amazing, from the football players to the cheerleaders. There were bounce houses. The people were amazing, the atmosphere was great. I’m lucky to be in Pinckney right now with everything that’s going on in Pinckney.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
